Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Big Beckett, Smart Ben

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Beckett's had a big week. His four month doctor appointment was last Friday. My defensive lineman is starting to thin out. He weighed in at 16 lbs and measured 26 inches. Still bigger than his older brother was at 4 months, but much more average in weight (43rd percentile) and way above average in height (80th percentile). He's gotten another clean bill of health, a round of shots, and sent on his way. The doctor suggested we start solids, so trusting his judgement (and my mom's), we did.

Chicks dig him. Even covered from head to toe in rice cereal. He loved it. Ate it like he's been eating solids all along and looked at me like "that's it?!" when it was gone. Both the doctor and my mom said that a benefit to him starting on solids would be extra sleep. I think it may have even worked with Ben. But Beckett, being a misfit, has not followed suit. In fact, I think he's even sleeping worse this week. So eating is just for fun right now. And it helps limit the ridiculous amount of spit-up this kid is capable of.

He's beginning to move with more purpose and is very proud of this. He'll kick one leg, then the other leg and smile. He can grab things you hold in front of him. And everything goes in his mouth. He's not quite teething, but tasting all of his toys. He loves music, like his brother, and seems fond of the same toys Ben likes. This causes a bit of a problem in the Turner house during the day, because Ben wants to play with anything Beckett has. Usually Beckett is cool with sharing but sometimes it doesn't go over very well. But Ben is working on being a nice big brother and looking at toys with Beckett. And he is always quick to retrieve a fallen binkie for his little bro. He'll even stick it back into his mouth if he can reach it. It's very sweet and super helpful.

I read that babies at four months old start to entertain themselves and depend less on others to keep them content. I'm really looking forward to this. Cuddle time is great and everything, but doing it 23 hours a day, every day, is hard when a two year old is running around. Because he's starting to show interest in toys, I think we're close to this milestone.

January 23rd - being cute:

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Ben continues to progress with everything each week. He's talking lots now, and saying the sweetest and funniest things. When he wants to greet me, he says "Hi Baby!" and gives me a kiss. His kisses are now his face next to my face, making the "muahhh" sound. He doesn't pucker his lips quite yet. I guess he calls me baby because I call him baby, but still doesn't refer to me as Mama unless he's hurt or tired. He can ask for food and "judice" when he is hungry and thirsty. And always uses his manners with "please" and "thank you". Thank you can either be the words or the sign - this is the only sign he still uses. When he refers to animals, he refers to the sound they make instead of what they are called. Dogs are "woof-woof", but every now and then he'll say "doggie". Ducks are "quack-quack" and he finds this sound to be hilarious. For some reason, cats, bugs and birds are all "ti-ti", but only cats meow. Sometimes I wish I could get into his head and figure out what his classification system is, or what he's thinking at any given moment.

Last week when Karen was here, Ben was working on putting shapes into little puzzle blocks. There was a square, circle, star and heart. He liked talking about the star and the heart and really liked putting them into the blocks, I guess because they were more challenging shapes. When Karen was getting ready to leave, Ben went through all of his usual stall techniques like packing her bag slowly, pretending not to hear her requests, etc. When all of that failed and she was getting up, Ben says "Uh oh heart", and looked really sad. We're still not sure if he meant the literal heart puzzle piece, or if he was heartbroken about her departure, but it was the most adorable moment ever. She even mentioned it yesterday, saying she thought about how sweet it was all weekend long. She and Ben have such an awesome bond, I'm really glad they found each other.

Sunday Driver:

Over the weekend, Mimi and Poo came to Turner Place for a visit. They stayed all weekend long and did lots of babysitting and home improvement projects. It was awesome. Mimi held Beckett a lot so that I could "move about the cabin" as I wished. But she also got a lot of Ben QT as well. They played lots in Ben's playroom and worked some of his activity baskets. Mimi brought Aunt Madi's old felt board and felt dolls for Ben to play with. He doesn't seem to mind that the dolls are completely girly. He likes to dress them in their ballerina dresses and sit them down for a birthday party. Mimi also brought colorforms for his playroom windows. He's currently celebrating Valentine's Day in there. Mimi made animal puppets for Ben so they played with those too. He likes them lots, but has a preoccupation with their wobbly eyes. And all of this while Mama moved about the cabin uninterrupted.

Ben and Mimi:

The playroom has been an awesome addition to Turner Place. It's nice to have a place to spread out with the toys without tripping all over them. And as part of our home improvement projects, it's now insulated and toasty, even when it's 15 degrees outside.

Ben had a hearing test today. As part of the Early Childhood Intervention services we're getting, he was required to get a hearing test. It was supposed to happen months ago, but because nothing has gone as planned with his case, it was put off until today. And he passed! Ben's hearing is perfect. And after being on a waiting list for a few months, he also received a weighted blanket from Project Linus. It's a beautiful quilted blanket with The Cat in the Hat on it, and will hopefully provide some comfort to him when he feels overstimulated. Can't wait to put it to use, and very thankful to the volunteer that made it especially for Ben.